Gummy Bear Phenomenon Will Hit the Big Screen

The worldwide phenomenon, Gummy Bear, formerly known as Gummibär, will be voiced by John Travolta in a 2D/3D animated feature. This will be the first time the Internet sensation hits the big screen, but the second film he has appeared in after the made for DVD flick, The Yummy Gummy Search for Santa.

Taken from the popular German gum candy, Gummy Bear is a virtual band popular for its catchy electronic melodies and repetitive lyrics. The bear sings in several languages, including English, Spanish, French, Hungarian and Swedish, with more languages being learned everyday, as he says. His most popular song, I’m a Gummy Bear, made it into the top 20 across several countries worldwide, especially Hungary where it peaked at number 1 for eight weeks.

According to a press release, Gummy Bear has generated 3.6 billion downloads and averages new users of up to 20 million monthly. Other songs from Gummy Bear include Touch Me, Itsi Bitsi Bikini and I’m a Scatman, all available on a 2007 CD.

As can be seen, Gummy Bear has a distinct look with his big blue eyes and half-naked body covered only by sneakers and underwear. He has that scruffy-looking facial hair, which seems to be encrusted with sugar. Gummy Bear also looks like he ate way too much candy, with all his teeth seemingly fallen off aside from two white pearls on his lower jaw. Moreover, Gummy Bear’s right eye is wider than his left eye and it appears someone took a bite out of his left ear.

The character is an interesting dichotomy. He seems to be marketed towards children, with his first film Search for Santa appealing to kids under the age of 10, yet his lyrics and gruff, naked appearance suggests otherwise. If the producers want to make money off Gummy Bear when it hits the big screen, he will need to be more family friendly and put on some clothes. Another alternative is to play off what made him a phenomenon in the first place, which would give Seth MacFarlane’s alcoholic Ted a run for his money as the most beloved, yet most despicable and foul-mouthed bear on the planet.

The music video to his hit, I’m a Gummy Bear, hints at just how raunchy Gummy Bear can be as he shakes his butt and grinds to the music. Christian Schneider wrote the English version, which has, thus far, hit more than 300 million YouTube views and can be seen below.

The Gummy Bear movie will be written by George Callo, most famous for writing Michael Bay’s cult action flick, Bad Boys. Other characters in the film will include the Gummy Bear’s friends – a cat, a chameleon and a vegetarian vampire bat. The four of them will band together to save the planet from aliens.

This will be Travolta’s second time doing voice over work after the 2008 entertaining Disney film, Bolt. What personality Gummy Bear will have when he hits the big screen is anyone’s guess. However, Travolta has shown in previous roles that he can be off-the-wall crazy and that could translate well into portraying the phenomenon of the Gummy Bear. The film is set to begin production on Sept. 30, 2014.